Analysts Should Probably Start Raising Their iPad Sales Estimates For This Quarter

In a surprise move, Apple will launch the new iPad in 30 more countries this weekend, rather than just introducing it in Brazil as was previously reported.

MacRumors was the first to discover the news on Apple's iPad availability page for Latin America, which lists 12 countries in addition to Brazil where Apple will launch the new iPad on Friday.

MacRumors did a little more digging elsewhere and found that Apple will launch the new iPad in 10 other countries on Friday and seven Middle Eastern countries on Saturday. After this weekend, the new iPad will be available in 87 countries worldwide.

Analysts should try to keep this fact in mind when making their predictions for iPad sales this quarter. Apple just increased the number of markets where one can buy an iPad by more than 50%. Even though China wasn't one of them, there will still be a lot more potential customers next week than most thought there would.